I think it’s amazing how, every time there is a message God intends for me to hear, He always puts me in the right place at just the right time. This past weekend was no exception.

The last couple of weeks at my full-time job have been extremely stressful, for a variety of reasons. Without going into the gory details, I’ll just say that I left work on many days over the past couple of weeks feeling completely stupid, incompetent, awkward, and several other adjectives I’ll spare you from having to read.

On Friday after work, I told my husband that I really needed to get to a real, live yoga class….a Podcast just wasn’t going to cut it. I needed human interaction, for Goodness’ sake! On Saturday morning, I woke up exhausted. Completely worn out from a REALLY bad day on Friday. I wanted to go back to bed, but my husband said, “Oh no you don’t! You said you needed to do this for yourself, and you’ve got nothing else you have to get done today, so you’re going to yoga. If you’re still tired after, then take a nap, but you’re not missing class.”

So I went to this class, which was a Hot Slow Flow class. I love Hot Yoga, but I can’t stand moving at too quick a pace, because it just makes me more agitated, for some reason. The Slow Flow pace is just right for me, and I truly feel God put me there on Saturday for a reason.

This yoga teacher is a full-time Kindergarten teacher, and she started class by sharing a sweet story about a little girl who attends her school but isn’t one of her students. See, the teacher had morning duty a few weeks ago, so she made a point to tell each student that crossed her path to have a great day. You’ve probably said this yourself to people whose paths you’ve crossed on any given day, and you probably didn’t even give it much thought. It’s a standard thing many of say in passing, right?

“Have a nice day.”

“Have a good one.”

“Have a great day.”

But this little girl took it to heart, apparently. The next day, she went directly to the teacher’s classroom before going to her own classroom. When the teacher asked her if anything was wrong, the little girl said, “No. I just wanted to make sure that YOU have a great day today, since you went to so much trouble yesterday to make sure that I had a great day.” The little girl has been coming to her classroom every morning since, just to tell this teacher to have a great day.

Oh my Gosh! I must say that hearing that story was SO SWEET, I teared up a bit. I mean, think about the impact of this story. How many of us ever stop to think about the words we utter, and how the person we’re saying them to will take them? I know I don’t always think before I speak, that’s for sure!

With our words, every single one of us has the capability of creating a positive transformation, or a sharp sword capable of causing destruction and chaos. With our words, we can make someone’s day absolutely beautiful, or we can shatter it to pieces. Our words have the capacity to make the world a better place – or not.

In yoga, the 5th chakra is the Throat chakra (called Vishuddha). This chakra is responsible for how we communicate, how we ask for what we need, for speaking our truth, and for truly listening to and hearing what others have to say. It is considered to be responsible for bringing our personal essence into the world, whether it be positive or negative. Over the summer, I did a series of blog posts on the chakras, covering a new one each week. The throat chakra is always one of my favorites to work on, probably because it’s one I’ve always struggled with. I’ve become MUCH more balanced in this chakra over the past year, but I still have a lot of work to do.

Hearing the story about the little girl in class on Saturday made me stop and really think about how I want to be perceived. How I want to make a difference in people’s lives. I want to do my best to make sure those I come into contact with are happy, whether they are personally close to me or just strangers passing by.

When you’re depleted in the 5th chakra, you’re more likely to be unhappy, and you’ll speak without any care at all for how your words are taken. But when you’re balanced in this chakra, you are peaceful, content and grounded. Find balance in this chakra, and your voice will be used for creating more good in this world. And that good will come back to you, over and over again. Just like it did for my teacher.

This week, I ask that you take the time to work a little (or a lot) on the 5th chakra. Take the time to notice how you interact with the people whose paths you cross. Maybe it’s your fellow yogis or the staff at the yoga studio. It could be anyone, not just someone you encounter in a yoga setting. Commit to using your voice for good. What can you say to someone that could help them have a great day? Avoid criticizing, complaining, gossiping, and speaking disrespectfully. Make an effort to compliment others, expressing gratitude, and using kind words — not just with others, but with yourself.

Do this just once, and I promise you’ll feel the positive impact. In fact, I bet you’ll feel so good that you won’t be able to stop.